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In one week, our brother/sister poll received votes from nearly 1500 voters, 60% of which included our winning duo among their up to 5 choices! Also, our top four sets of siblings are all from CW shows! Check out the results below:

This Monday Madness, vote for your favorite brother/sister duos! While many shows include 3, 4, or more siblings, this poll only focuses on a brother/sister pair – there may be other siblings, but only if they are less of a focus. (I may do a families poll in the future to cover families with multiple siblings like the Bluths.) As in the previous polls, I only included more recent shows, and included both half- and step-siblings, as well as adopted siblings (but not siblings-in-law).

I also did not include siblings when one of them is only in a handful of episodes. My general rule of thumb was going with siblings who had both been in at least 1/3 of the episodes. Be sure to keep that in mind with any nominations!

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 5 of your favorite TV brother/sister duos. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will win!

I had a hard time coming up with duos for this list, so I know there are brother/sister pairs I left out! As always, you can cast write-in ballots by leaving a comment, and if I receive several nominations, I may add them to the poll! Want more of a say in what makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll.

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 12AM March 31st.

2012 was a great year for me in regard to uncovering awesome TV shows. It may even top 2011, when I got pulled into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Bones, Warehouse 13, Eureka, and Veronica Mars, not to mention enjoyed great new fall shows like Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Suburgatory, and Person of Interest.

My top eight new shows for 2012 are also a mix of brand new and new-to-me shows. Like with the list above, this year wasn’t always my first exposure to the shows in question, but 2012 was the year they hooked me. I’m listing the shows in roughly chronological order of getting sucked in.

The Finder

This short-lived Fox drama (so many awesome shows can say the same thing) caught my attention as a companion show to Bones – not quite a proper spinoff as none of the main characters from Bones joined the new show. But with a planted pilot, same showrunner, and guest appearances by Bones cast, the tie was definitely there. Geoff Stults (as Walter) and Michael Clarke Duncan (as Leo) hit it out of the park on day one, but the ratings didn’t match the show’s awesomeness. Fox also aired the episodes out of order, threw in a month-long hiatus in March, and moved the show to the Friday death slot – starting Easter weekend!

From the beginning, the show felt like it should have been airing on USA Network – it had the same breezy, pop-culture-riddled sensibilities as Psych, and would have been a perfect fit for their “Characters Welcome” brand. But in the end, the cancellation of the show was moot, as Michael Clarke Duncan, who as Leo was the heart of the show, passed away over the summer.

I’m still waiting for the DVD set to become available, but at least The Finder introduced me to the amazingness of actor Geoff Stults, who I’m currently enjoying as a reoccurring cast member on Ben and Kate. Sadly, that show also airs on Fox, and I’ve learned not to get attached to anything airing on that network now.

True Blood

Buffy and Being Human showed me that shows about vampires are cool. So to feed my bloodlust, I decided to try out this buzzy HBO show, not really expecting to like it – keeping things PG-13 is more my style, and I’m not a fan of the deep south. But checking out episode one led swiftly to two, and three, as each twisty cliffhanger glamoured me into watching more. Short season meant catching up in time for season 5, and while this show is fairly low on my list of vampire TV shows, it’s addicting enough that I’ll keep coming back.

Happy Endings

There’s a dearth of good comedy over summers, so I decided to give this recommended show a try in late August, and quickly grew to love the quirky group.

The Vampire Diaries

After catching up on True Blood, I decided to try out the last major vampire show currently airing that I hadn’t seen. Plus, I was looking at writing a book with a high school setting and vampires trying to control their urges, and I wanted to make sure it was different enough from this show. The pilot bored me, but I heard later that the rest of the show was a vast improvement, so I dove in during September, and caught up on all three seasons within 3 weeks, just in time for the season 4 premiere.

Like True Blood, the fast-paced storylines made the show insanely addictive, but in this case, the characters and relationships became an even bigger draw. Damon’s struggle with what sort of person to become, Elena’s compassion without weakness, Stefan’s dual nature, Caroline’s ditziness turned to strength, Alaric’s unlikely allies becoming the family he always wanted, and more.

Elementary

No, it’s not Sherlock, but it doesn’t have to be – I love both shows, and Jonny Lee Miller makes an amazing Holmes. Making Watson female, setting the show in NYC, and coming up with new stories instead of revamping the classics all help differentiate this show. And with us getting only 4 1/2 hours of Sherlock every 18 months or so, there’s plenty of room for a fun, quirky drama like this. I enjoy the recovering addict twist, and Joan Watson’s slower progression to teaming up with her client.

Arrow

Aside from Alphas, TV has been sorely missing a good superhero show, and in the wake of The Avengers’ popularity, the Batman trilogy’s gritty conclusion, and America’s obsession with bow-toting heroes, Arrow is exactly what was wanted. While there are still a few rough edges on this new drama (dialogue could use some help), great ratings will give it time to truly soar.

Doctor Who

I always knew I would eventually watch this show. I purchased digital editions of series 1 and 3 back in 2010, and watched a few episodes here and there, but didn’t get hooked. I watched a couple more earlier this year, and in November started liking the show more and more. In December, I started marathoning through Doctor Who in earnest, as most shows were going on hiatus and I had more time. I rewatched season 1 with my sister (and liked it a whole lot more the second time) around Christmas, and caught up with the whole show (excluding classic Who) a few days after the New Year.

Torchwood

I bought the first two series of Torchwood in 2010 also, and despite some misgivings about the show’s adult content, I liked the character of Jack Harkness from Doctor Who enough to give the show a try (and keep all the crossovers in their proper places). As a result of watching the two together, it’s hard to separate Torchwood as a distinct show in my mind. It’s the only show on this list I’m not current with, as I still have 6 episodes left of the Miracle Day mini-series. It’s definitely a more serious show (during various episodes I found myself longing for the more lighthearted Who), morality is a bit grayer, and quite often there isn’t a happy ending. But it definitely grows on you, and there are quite a few exceptional episodes.

Which TV show has the best flashbacks? That’s the question you get to answer in this week’s poll! Flashbacks add depth to current storylines and allow us to understand characters’ motivations, and range from heartrending to hilarious.

You can nominate shows missing from the poll below, but be sure the show has a significant amount of flashbacks to be included. The show should have a minimum of two episodes with a large portion of the episode as flashback, preferably more, and they should have some impact on the story/characters (a brief explanation would be appreciated!). I’ve added some flashback explanations to a few of the shows in the poll, but they are to jog your memory, not represent every flashback in the show. (One more note – I’ve put Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel as one option since their flashbacks revolve around the same characters for the most part.)

Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, Pinterest, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

Our next poll will be favorite Christmas episodes! Feel free to nominate episodes on our Facebook page, tweeting me at @waterfallbooks, or by leaving a comment below. Please include both the show and episode name, and yes, you can nominate this year’s holiday episodes!

Without further ado, choose up to ten of the shows below, but be sure to vote based on how awesome the flashbacks are! Poll will close Friday night, December 15th, giving you about a week and a half to spread the word!

Update – here are some pics I’ve edited to promote the poll! Now you have additional images you can pin on Pinterest, or you can share them on Tumblr, Facebook, and more! I’m working on getting more for the other shows, but you can help out by creating your own!

Back when we did our favorite TV couples polls (with realistic and speculative divisions) last spring, I promised that in the fall, we’d have the winners from those polls face each other in an ultimate showdown. Friends, that time is now. The top 20 couples in each of the two polls have joined together with 10 newbie wild card competitors to determine which couples are truly TV’s top 10!

Since this poll will take place over Thanksgiving (for us Americans), I’ll keep the poll open through the end of the month, giving you a full 15 days to get the word out for your favorite couples. You can vote for up to 10 couples, but choose carefully, as you only get to vote once! (Oh, and be sure to enter our Friends giveaway!)

Unlike most of our polls, you can’t nominate other couples, since this is based on the results of two previous polls. Even for our ten wild card additions, I only choose couples that did not appear in the previous polls. Some were overlooked, some are newer shows or newer couples, but I chose 5 from speculative shows and 5 from shows without speculative elements: Brad and Jane from Happy Endings, Nick and Jess from New Girl, Auggie and Annie from Covert Affairs, Troy and Britta from Community, Daniel and Kate from Perception, Oliver and Laurel from Arrow, John and Rachel from Alphas, Fargo and Holly from Eureka, Nathan and Audrey from Haven, and Adama and Roslin from Battlestar Galactica.

Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, Pinterest, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

Without further ado, choose your favorite 10 out of the 50 couples below! Poll will close Friday night, November 30th.

It’s nearly Halloween, and while we’ve recently had a poll on favorite Halloween episodes, this week we’re going to look at scary shows! Whether the shows are all-out horror, or just have select creepy elements, you get to vote on which ones are your favorites, from the classic Twilight Zone to the brand new 666 Park Avenue!

You might have noticed we’re launching the poll on Tuesday instead of our normal Monday Madness slot. I’m doing this as an experiment. Since poll voting seems to go down on weekends, I thought it might be better for polls to end on Monday nights instead of Sunday nights, to give fans a final weekday to promote their show. We’ll see how that goes, and if you have any ideas for a catchy phrase to use for our polls if we decide to make that move permanent, please mention it in the comments!

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite spooky shows! Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!

I know there are shows missing from the list, so please nominate shows I’ve overlooked! I’m being pretty loose with the term “scary” in this poll, but everyone has different levels of tolerance for suspense, gore, creatures, and surprises. If you’re not sure a show would fit, nominate it anyway!

Want more of a say in which shows make it onto the poll each week? (Shows on the initial list do have better odds to make it into the top 10.) Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!

Without further ado, here’s the poll! Voting ends around 1AM October 30th.

I’ve started reviewing Grimm over on the TV show review site Billie Doux. I’m working on the current second season right now, though I do plan to go back and review season one, too.

Does anyone else absolutely hate the new intro for Grimm? It has a cool visual look, but the voiceover (both content and tone) and music is terrible. It’s a good idea to give new viewers a quick idea of what they’re in for, but did they have to make it sound so 90s?

This round of the TV Olympics, we’re looking at switched-body performances! It’s typical of many science fiction and fantasy shows to have an episode or two when characters switch consciousness with each other. Usually it’s a one-to-one ratio, but other episodes get more creative – three characters switching, one character played by two actors, etc.

This isn’t one actor playing two characters (if that is more of a long-term thing, it probably fits into our dual roles poll), it’s where one actor plays a role typically portrayed by another actor (or a new enemy), and usually for only one or two episodes.

For this round of TV Breakroom’s Olympic event, we’re going to look at all the different variations of werewolves on TV! This poll is not only about the visual effects – transformation and full wolf – but also the werewolf mythology and rules within each story world. Do werewolves change only on the full moon, on the nights surrounding it, or whenever they please? What happens if they try to suppress the change? Can a werewolf make a human into a werewolf with just a scratch, or does it have to be a bite? Do they have to be in wolf form to do so? Or are werewolves only hereditary? Will a werewolf killed in wolf form revert to a human? How can they be killed?

Side note – I’ve been pondering the above questions recently as I’m working on writing a novel that includes scientifically-created werewolves. I plan to share more about this story and its deep connection to TV shows with you in the near future!

If there are any TV werewolves that I missed (and they appear in more than one episode of the show), please feel free to nominate them in the comments. Poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 3 options.

For this round of TV Breakroom’s Olympic event, we’re going to look at all the different variations of vampires on TV! I know we had favorite Christmas episode originally scheduled for today, but at 30 options and still growing it no longer counts as a mini-poll (I’m saving it for December).

This poll is not only about the visual effects – fangs, black eyes, bumpy foreheads, and bloody tears – but also the vampire mythology and rules within each story world. Do vampires have a soul, and if not, can they regain them? How can you kill them – does sunlight, silver, holy water, etc. work? Do they turn into a pile of dust or a bloody mess when they die? Can they ever come back from that? Do they have to drink human blood, or can synthetic or animal blood work? Do they have to be invited in? Do they have super speed? Can they hypnotize humans?

Side note – I’ve been pondering the above questions recently as I’m working on writing a novel that includes scientifically-created vampires. How much of the vampire mythos can I find reasonable explanations for, and therefore include (yeah, invitations won’t be needed for these vampires). I plan to share more about this story and its deep connection to TV shows with you in the near future!

If there are any TV vampires that I missed (and they appear in more than one episode of the show), please feel free to nominate them in the comments. Poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 3 options.

I love that How I Met Your Mother is bringing back some familiar faces as the show winds down (or gets converted into something along the lines of “After I Met Your Mother”). It took me a second to remember Joe Manganiello from his guest spots in the show, but now that the True Blood actor is showing up everywhere (he also had a guest role on White Collar last season), I’m sure his two-episode return to HIMYM will be awesome!

What other years-ago guests and reoccurring cast members would you like to see back on HIMYM?

For all that vampires have taken over modern culture, they’re not all that prevalent on TV currently. There’s one series on broadcast (The Vampire Diaries), one on basic cable (Being Human, plus its sister show, the original British version, re-airing on BBC America), and one on premium cable (True Blood).

And in addition to an uncrowded target audience, NBC’s straight-to-series 10 episode order of Dracula has two other benefits – casting the talented Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the lead role, and setting it in Victorian London.

This Monday Madness, it’s time to bask in the delights of summer TV! As many broadcast shows go on hiatus for the summer, cable shows get a chance to shine! Also, we here in the US get the chance to experience some Canadian and British shows over the summer as well.

The selection of shows is based on US scheduling, and features shows within the past decade. I included some newer shows that had aired at least 3 episodes (giving Bunheads a little leeway since its third episode airs tonight). Not all of these shows air all their episodes in the summer – many have a split schedule, with the second half of seasons airing the following winter. Also, not all of these are still summer shows – for example, Psych has transitioned into a fall show, but since 5 of the past 6 seasons have started in July or August, I felt it qualified for the poll.

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite summer shows. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!

Even though there are 30-some options on this list, I know there are TV shows I left out! You can nominate ones I missed in the comments until Thursday night, and I may add them to the poll (live-action scripted shows only, please).

Want more of a say in who makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 1AM July 2nd.

I love TVLine’s spoiler posts, and this one is full of info on shows I watch, like Castle, Bones, Community, Leverage, and more! Find out about Carrie Preston’s fate on True Blood and The Good Wife, the Bones bonus episode “The Gunk in the Garage”, and where New Girl’s Max Greenfield would love Schmidt’s relationship with Cece to go.